How Can Chief Medical Officers Prepare for Cultural Changes in Today's Healthcare Environment?
Collierville, TN (PRWEB) December 12, 2013 -- The pressures for change in healthcare are immense -- and the stakes are getting higher. Performance targets and the metrics by which physicians and hospitals will be measured seem ever-shifting. Yet those are the very things that will determine how much – and whether – physicians and hospitals will be paid for the services they render.
Hospital Chief Medical Officers attending the Tennessee Hospital Association’s Summit held in Nashville, Tennessee had the opportunity to participate in a pre-conference session, “Leading Physicians and Hospitals Through Cultural Change: A Prescription for Turbulent Times.” This session was sponsored by LifeWings Partners, LLC, a consulting group experienced in helping hospitals implement Crew Resource Management (CRM) strategies.
“Legislative and reimbursement changes are impacting hospitals’ bottom lines in a big way,” notes healthcare consultant Richard Doss of LifeWings Partners. “Hospitals and healthcare systems that implement consistent processes to drive quality outcomes will fare well in this new reimbursement environment.” Doss recommends crew resource management (CRM) disciplines (team-based decision making, communication, situational awareness, and the routine usage of checklists, standardized handoffs, algorithms, and protocols) to guide change founded on patient safety.
Dr. Andrew Grose, Assistant Professor at New York Medical College and an orthopedic trauma surgeon, has been at the forefront of team training workshops to implement a culture of safety at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, NY, where he practices. “When we debrief at the end of a surgical case, it is easy to identify things that were not as they should be with regard to the physical environment. Everyone can say that a certain needed supply was not present, or the wrong instruments were set out, or the room was set up incorrectly. But it takes much more awareness to identify teamwork problems, such as the surgeon didn’t communicate clearly about the tool needed, or someone was distracted during the case, or not everyone present participated in the debriefing discussions,” notes Grose. In some areas of the hospital, like obstetrics, physicians and other providers are more used to working collaboratively as a team. But Dr. Grose notes, “Teamwork is a concept that is transferrable across every domain. When we implement teamwork and a culture of patient safety, everyone wins.” For more information about LifeWings visit http://www.saferpatients.com.
About LifeWings:
LifeWings Partners, LLC has improved the performance of over 140 hospitals worldwide, creating documented, sustainable improvements in efficiency, reliability, safety, and quality. Visit http://www.saferpatients.com or https://www.facebook.com/LifeWingsSaferPatients or follow on Twitter @LifeWingsLLC.
Stephen Harden, Lifewings Partners, LLC, +1 (901) 457-7505, [email protected]
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